ray mears????
- Thread starter wolf
- Start date
-
Hey Guest, Early bird pricing on the Summer Moot (29th July - 10th August) available until April 6th, we'd love you to come. PLEASE CLICK HERE to early bird price and get more information.
I think you may find there will be too many comments! Ray-slagging or anyone else-slagging seems to be something that is happening with increasing frequency in bushcraft 
To me, Ray is a guy who makes good TV programmes, and does courses I can't afford. Personally I let him lie at that
To me, Ray is a guy who makes good TV programmes, and does courses I can't afford. Personally I let him lie at that
i was just suprised that such things could have been said,ive enjoyed and learnt a few things from this guy....
Finally people are seeing through the gloss.
Ok I remember the beginning of Mears and his stuff was great in them days but he has lost that and is now just a television presenter.
I have said this on numerous occasions in the past on BCUK and each time someone takes exception... so lets get discussing Mears
Ok I remember the beginning of Mears and his stuff was great in them days but he has lost that and is now just a television presenter.
I have said this on numerous occasions in the past on BCUK and each time someone takes exception... so lets get discussing Mears
Read, watch all the "survival experts" and you will see mistakes or omissions. Bushcrafting is not a perfect science we can't all be the best at every element in bushcrafting. If you spot a mistake good for you, you are progressing. If you enjoy the expert's info have at it and learn and try it out for yourself see what works for you honestly. CG :yo:
Hear, hear! CC
I didn't have much of an idea who Ray Mears was before I went to the Oliversburn meet ( okay, yes I got slagged! ) but having made an effort since to actually watch some tv I've got to admit I enjoy his programmes; I just wish there was a little more detail....but then I suppose that's what the courses are for I think it's a case of the programmes showing a breadth of potentials and a rough idea rather than focusing on specific tasks in fine detail.
It makes for interesting tv and reading too.
Cheers,
Toddy
I didn't have much of an idea who Ray Mears was before I went to the Oliversburn meet (
okay, yes I got slagged! ) but having made an effort since to actually watch some tv I've got to admit I enjoy his programmes; I just wish there was a little more detail....but then I suppose that's what the courses are for I think it's a case of the programmes showing a breadth of potentials and a rough idea rather than focusing on specific tasks in fine detail.It makes for interesting tv and reading too.
Cheers,
Toddy
I've had a some reservations but I think the way his programmes have popularised the pursuit of outdoor skills plus a well developed (if not complete ??) base of knowledge and skills on his part has to be acknowledged.....without his efforts we might not be here now ???? I also agree though that the book is not my favourite.
watching Ray Mears was what opened my eyes to the world of bushcraft, i for one like his books and programs, each to his own, one place i didnt expect to find snobbery was in bushcraft my $0.02
Ray Mears was for the most part my initiation into bushcraft. Before him i had always had an interest and when inclined i would stumble around the woods blind to it's potential and mine for that matter. But it was he who bought me to the campfire at this late stage.
Whether he is the thoroughbred bushman he makes out to be or a mime artist of great expertise make no difference to me. Because the fact of the matter is that i believe him to be a most excellent ambasador of bushcraft. Whether he practises what he preaches or not is neither here nor there for on the face of it he is doing a good job.
No, Ray is no demi god and there may well be better, more practised writters but i wish i was good enough to reach the point where i leave Ray behind and clear a path of my own infront of him. Are there many of us that can? One or two at most on here i would summise.
Furthermore, never have i met a more elequant and sincere speaker on the subject . I find his shows wholely entertaining and by far the best show on tv.
I don't think he ever proclaimed to be the best but just doing his job as he calls it at the start of every show. Good luck to the manand shame on the urbanites that would bring him down. If there were more people like him on tv then my license might actually pay divident.
Whether he is the thoroughbred bushman he makes out to be or a mime artist of great expertise make no difference to me. Because the fact of the matter is that i believe him to be a most excellent ambasador of bushcraft. Whether he practises what he preaches or not is neither here nor there for on the face of it he is doing a good job.
No, Ray is no demi god and there may well be better, more practised writters but i wish i was good enough to reach the point where i leave Ray behind and clear a path of my own infront of him. Are there many of us that can? One or two at most on here i would summise.
Furthermore, never have i met a more elequant and sincere speaker on the subject . I find his shows wholely entertaining and by far the best show on tv.
I don't think he ever proclaimed to be the best but just doing his job as he calls it at the start of every show. Good luck to the manand shame on the urbanites that would bring him down. If there were more people like him on tv then my license might actually pay divident.
bilko said:Ray Mears was for the most part my initiation into bushcraft. Before him i had always had an interest and when inclined i would stumble around the woods blind to it's potential and mine for that matter. But it was he who bought me to the campfire at this late stage.
Whether he is the thoroughbred bushman he makes out to be or a mime artist of great expertise make no difference to me. Because the fact of the matter is that i believe him to be a most excellent ambasador of bushcraft. Whether he practises what he preaches or not is neither here nor there for on the face of it he is doing a good job.
No, Ray is no demi god and there may well be better, more practised writters but i wish i was good enough to reach the point where i leave Ray behind and clear a path of my own infront of him. Are there many of us that can? One or two at most on here i would summise.
Furthermore, never have i met a more elequant and sincere speaker on the subject . I find his shows wholely entertaining and by far the best show on tv.
I don't think he ever proclaimed to be the best but just doing his job as he calls it at the start of every show. Good luck to the manand shame on the urbanites that would bring him down. If there were more people like him on tv then my license might actually pay divident.
Well said Bilko.
The people I live with aren't into Bushcraft but when his programmes are on, they can't help but be quite, stay in the room and pay attention.
There are many thoughts possible in this Thread lets do it step by step:
1. The reviewer is doing his job, he is entitled to his own judgment, I can agree with them or not thats up to me but he is not evil because he is not worshiping an idol.
2. Take the best and leave the rest. That means that people have different talents why not taking the best from a person and leaving the rest. Ray is very good in throwing his entire being into the course of Bushcraft, much like a preacher. He stills installs the "feel" the spirit of Bushcraft in me, only by his talking, thats the good things I take from him. The rest is his life not mine so why being fussy about how hes and what he should do. I am meeting nearly every day people who are living in the Bush, they are better in the things of the woods than Mr. Mears but the are very boring people, spoiling nature a great deal. They live up here, yes, not to sleep in the forest, not to talk about it or see the beauty of it. They hunt and fish and look TV and if the logging company pays more for the day-to-day job they will love to cut the forest down. I can learn from them some skills but I would rather spent an evening talking with Ray about nature and Bushcraft.
3. The real problem are the worshippers not because they enjoy Ray so much but they make a religion out of it, dancing around the golden calf. And I am always suspect about the Hallelujah shouts of the masses, saying that someone is God. The same people crucify the person they loved so much the next day when he is not doing what the masses wants. They too identify so much with their hero that they are attacking people telling them that their king has no cloth on. In that way I am not shocked or moved that not everybody loves Ray.
Maybe the journalist was right, who knows. I know what I got from Ray and I am thankful for it.
I take the best and forget the rest.
Cheers
Abbe
1. The reviewer is doing his job, he is entitled to his own judgment, I can agree with them or not thats up to me but he is not evil because he is not worshiping an idol.
2. Take the best and leave the rest. That means that people have different talents why not taking the best from a person and leaving the rest. Ray is very good in throwing his entire being into the course of Bushcraft, much like a preacher. He stills installs the "feel" the spirit of Bushcraft in me, only by his talking, thats the good things I take from him. The rest is his life not mine so why being fussy about how hes and what he should do. I am meeting nearly every day people who are living in the Bush, they are better in the things of the woods than Mr. Mears but the are very boring people, spoiling nature a great deal. They live up here, yes, not to sleep in the forest, not to talk about it or see the beauty of it. They hunt and fish and look TV and if the logging company pays more for the day-to-day job they will love to cut the forest down. I can learn from them some skills but I would rather spent an evening talking with Ray about nature and Bushcraft.
3. The real problem are the worshippers not because they enjoy Ray so much but they make a religion out of it, dancing around the golden calf. And I am always suspect about the Hallelujah shouts of the masses, saying that someone is God. The same people crucify the person they loved so much the next day when he is not doing what the masses wants. They too identify so much with their hero that they are attacking people telling them that their king has no cloth on. In that way I am not shocked or moved that not everybody loves Ray.
Maybe the journalist was right, who knows. I know what I got from Ray and I am thankful for it.
I take the best and forget the rest.
Cheers
Abbe
That chap Lief makes me laugh.
He is talking about and shunning how authors regurgitate information by other authors but that is exactly what he is doing as the bulk constitute of his article. He cannot write an article from scratch or even spell correctly; diarrhoea is spelt incorrectly wrong, for instance.
Bushcraft is a finite subject, there will inevitably be repetitions. There will always be differences, if there was one sole book that contained all the information possibly needed in a manner than everyone agreed on, firstly, it would be the same as the correct parts of previous books and, secondly, there would never be the need for another book again.
Had Mr. Mears stated Lief's method of felling trees, which, funnily enough is the same as Mr. Kochanski's, he would not have been accused of misinforming but of plagiarism.
It is a lose-lose situation for the poor man, he is appreciated by me at least.
Cheerio for now.
He is talking about and shunning how authors regurgitate information by other authors but that is exactly what he is doing as the bulk constitute of his article. He cannot write an article from scratch or even spell correctly; diarrhoea is spelt incorrectly wrong, for instance.
Bushcraft is a finite subject, there will inevitably be repetitions. There will always be differences, if there was one sole book that contained all the information possibly needed in a manner than everyone agreed on, firstly, it would be the same as the correct parts of previous books and, secondly, there would never be the need for another book again.
Had Mr. Mears stated Lief's method of felling trees, which, funnily enough is the same as Mr. Kochanski's, he would not have been accused of misinforming but of plagiarism.
It is a lose-lose situation for the poor man, he is appreciated by me at least.
Cheerio for now.
Ive never met Mr Mears,i guess more than one or two on here may have done but what i like about the bloke is his obvious total love and enjoyment of his subject,this comes across so well in his programmes it really is palpable.
This may not be totally on topic, but from where I sit, anyone that points people in a direction that brings them closer to the Earth and closer to the reality I call Nature, is OK in my book. If he teaches incompetence, that's a different story. I've never read any of RM's books, nor have I watched any of his series, but I figure he knows what he's doing and if he's a good teacher, he's doing society a great service, if those that watch and pay attention can improve the ecology where they live and can save a life (pass on the knowledge), when they find one that needs saving.
I think just about any book(or thread ) you read you can find something to pick fault with.
Whether it is a silly mistake or someone being too diverse, we all have our specialities and weaknesses, someone somewhere will disagree.
I think too that most bushcrafters I have met, whether online or onsite, are generally the type of people that will listen to or read several opinions weighing up the pros and cons before deciding on the way they are going to do it.
I have briefly read a couple of Ray Mears books and found them interesting, diverse and even inspirational, but as all books of the type are they are a guide rather than a rule book!
) you read you can find something to pick fault with.Whether it is a silly mistake or someone being too diverse, we all have our specialities and weaknesses, someone somewhere will disagree.
I think too that most bushcrafters I have met, whether online or onsite, are generally the type of people that will listen to or read several opinions weighing up the pros and cons before deciding on the way they are going to do it.
I have briefly read a couple of Ray Mears books and found them interesting, diverse and even inspirational, but as all books of the type are they are a guide rather than a rule book!
It appears Leif might earn a buck or two from this bushcraft caper himself:
Read the whole article at:
http://www.helenair.com/articles/2005/02/03/outdoors/c01020305_01.txt
At least we know he's not impartial...
Read the whole article at:
http://www.helenair.com/articles/2005/02/03/outdoors/c01020305_01.txt
At least we know he's not impartial...
I believe the reviewer, Leif Frederisckson, has been rather unfair on Ray Mears.
1. He alleges that Ray has simply copied and regurgitated bits of Mors Kochanski's books. Apart from the fact that Ray's earlier book was published in the early 90s (I think) it is not surprising that two books on the same subject duplicate some information. You could pick any two sailing books at random, and if they both tell you to wear a lifejacket, would you accuse one author of plagiarism?
2. He makes a lot of Ray's comment: 'Don't melt snow in your mouth or hand: the amount of energy you lose will outweigh the benefit of water gained.' Leif says he's wrong. Now, in my medical opinion....if you're well-hydrated but hypothermic, Ray is right. If you're dehydrated and with no other means of melting snow Leif is right. I think Rays comment is reasonable when you consider it precedes a couple of pages of instruction in melting snow.
3. Leif writes: "Mears writes that felling trees is not common in the bush, and evidently he is not joking. Actually it is one of the most important skills for the northern woods, especially when snow covers the ground"
This sounds pretty damning until you read what Ray actually wrote: "In bushcraft we do not fell trees very often; usually we work with already fallen dead timber. However, in boreal forests it can be necessary to fell living trees, for tent or shelter poles...."
4. The comment about warming axe blades with your hand is interesting. I must admit that I find this bit of Ray's advice a bit dubious and I do think that Leif has it right. I don't feel qualified to comment on the tree felling - views, anyone?
5. The whole tone of the review is rather negative - it seems to me to be saying 'I know more about this and he's got it all wrong'. It is easy to find errors or questionable statements in almost any book. At best Leif has found two or three errors in a pretty big book.
Ray Mears, on the other hand, presents a very positive picture of simply enjoying nature, with a keen desire to conserve it, and I've never seen or heard of him putting others down like this.
1. He alleges that Ray has simply copied and regurgitated bits of Mors Kochanski's books. Apart from the fact that Ray's earlier book was published in the early 90s (I think) it is not surprising that two books on the same subject duplicate some information. You could pick any two sailing books at random, and if they both tell you to wear a lifejacket, would you accuse one author of plagiarism?
2. He makes a lot of Ray's comment: 'Don't melt snow in your mouth or hand: the amount of energy you lose will outweigh the benefit of water gained.' Leif says he's wrong. Now, in my medical opinion....if you're well-hydrated but hypothermic, Ray is right. If you're dehydrated and with no other means of melting snow Leif is right. I think Rays comment is reasonable when you consider it precedes a couple of pages of instruction in melting snow.
3. Leif writes: "Mears writes that felling trees is not common in the bush, and evidently he is not joking. Actually it is one of the most important skills for the northern woods, especially when snow covers the ground"
This sounds pretty damning until you read what Ray actually wrote: "In bushcraft we do not fell trees very often; usually we work with already fallen dead timber. However, in boreal forests it can be necessary to fell living trees, for tent or shelter poles...."
4. The comment about warming axe blades with your hand is interesting. I must admit that I find this bit of Ray's advice a bit dubious and I do think that Leif has it right. I don't feel qualified to comment on the tree felling - views, anyone?
5. The whole tone of the review is rather negative - it seems to me to be saying 'I know more about this and he's got it all wrong'. It is easy to find errors or questionable statements in almost any book. At best Leif has found two or three errors in a pretty big book.
Ray Mears, on the other hand, presents a very positive picture of simply enjoying nature, with a keen desire to conserve it, and I've never seen or heard of him putting others down like this.
Similar threads
